Cadet I/Basic flying
| ← HUD | Remapping controls → |
Basics of Flight
| If you have ever driven a motorized vehicle in slippery conditions, made a sharp turn and had the vehicle continue to slide in it's original direction, you will have a feel for the mechanics of flight in Allegiance. |
Yaw and Pitch
The arrow keys allow you to steer the nose of your ship in any direction you like, but it is best to use the mouse or joystick for that purpose. To fly with your mouse, hit numpad 0 while flying.
Note See also mouse vs. joystick
Momentum vector (aka G-indicator)
As indicated in the previous lesson, your actual direction is indicated in the center of your screen by 
. If you are planning on flying around an obstacle you better ensure that it doesn't line up on your HUD with the , because that's where you're going like it or not! Similarly, when approaching a target such as a green base door, make sure your momentum vector is pointed where you want it, otherwise you may have momentum from previous movements taking you in the wrong direction.
Unlike real space, where there is no drag, the game physics allow for drag and momentum.
The momentum vector is the only hint given by your ship for you to know exactly where you're going. Pay close attention to it at all times. It is what you use to direct your ship toward targets and to keep your ship from colliding with objects.
Tip: You can work with your momentum vector to pull off some impressive maneuvers. For example, doing a 90 degree turn and then holding on the side thrust key will allow you to continue flying in your original direction while targeting something beside you.
Simple thrusters
Most of your movement is provided by your simple thrusters, which you can adjust anywhere between 0 and 100% by pressing + and - (left of the backspace, not the numpad versions). Alternatively you can use \ and Backspace to set your thrusters at exactly 100 or 0% respectively.
Tip: Most veterans prefer to keep simple thrusters at either zero or 100%, and use their side thrusters or "match speed" button for fine-tune adjustments (see section on side thrusters below).
Your current amount of thrust is indicated on your HUD by the top left bar. The amount you choose doesn't affect your acceleration rate, only the maximum speed you will reach.
Some of you familiar with astrophysics may be puzzled that ships in Allegiance even have a maximum speed. The reason for this is simply game-balance. All ships are affected by "drag" as shown in the image on the right.
Boosters
Pressing Tab will engage your boosters. Not all ships have boosters, so watch for it when you prepare your ship. The booster consumes fuel, indicated in your HUD display by the top right bar. Be careful when boosting, it has a much greater strength than your thrusters and using it incorrectly may result in crashing into an asteroid.
Note A common newb mistake is "overboosting", which is holding down on the Tab until your target is in range and then go zooming past! Release the boost key when your target is about 1-2k away to avoid this
Good pilots use boosters to change direction tightly or to avoid enemy fire in all kinds of ways. However, the primary use is faster travel. Traveling extreme distances, in a short period of time, obviously requires a lot of fuel, make sure you adjust the number of fuel refills you bring to the amount of fuel you'll need. Whereas short-distance defensive actions require little booster use leaving youe space for other, perhaps more useful, items.
Tip: You can teleport while boosting! Boost and hold the button down, then teleport as normal. If you do not let up on the booster button, it will keep boosting and resume after a reload allowing you to rapidly escape an opponent.
Rotations
You can rotate your ship (clockwise and counterclockwise). Pressing Shift-← and Shift-→ will have your ship rotate. This is generally not useful, but comes in handy in some situations.
Example Rixian ships are extremely agile on the horizontal axis, but not very agile on the vertical axis. As a result, a good pilot will rotate his ship so that he always turns on the horizontal axis, resulting in almost twice as much maneuverability.
Example Ships with a thinner profile will try to make sure that only the thinnest side is exposed to enemy fire, exposing less surface to enemy weapons and thus becoming more difficult to hit.
Example Ships that have all their guns in a line, and are shooting at a thin profile ship, will rotate to bring their guns to bear instead of having one shooting above and the other below their target
Sidethrusters
All ships have sidethrusters that allow them to fly in any direction. They are primarily used in dogfighting but serve many other purposes, such as getting around a station in order to dock. Note that sidethrusters are generally not as powerful as main thrusters, having both lower accelerations and lower maximum velocities. Of course, ships with high accelerations have highly accelerating sidethrusters too. Many pilots choose to remap their controls so that these buttons are closer to the rotation and boost keys (also both widely used in dogfighting). The default keys for sidethrusters are on your Numpad.
- Numpad 8, 5, 4, 6 are forwards, backwards, left and right respectively.
- Numpad 9 is upwards, and numpad 7 is downwards.
When using thrusters in a dogfight, do not alternate between opposite thrusters. For example thrusting up/down or left/right combinations. This forces your ship to a standstill and makes you an easy kill.
| ← HUD | Remapping controls → |
